oblique

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
oblique /əˈbliːk/

▶adjective

• 1 neither parallel nor at right angles; slanting.

• 2 not explicit or direct: an oblique threat.

• 3 Geometry (of a line, plane figure, or surface) inclined at other than a right angle.

  ■ (of an angle) acute or obtuse.

  ■ (of a cone, cylinder, etc.) with an axis not perpendicular to the plane of its base.

• 4 Anatomy (especially of a muscle) neither parallel nor perpendicular to the long axis of a body or limb.

• 5 Grammar denoting any case other than the nominative or vocative.

▶noun

• 1 Brit. another term for slash (sense 3 of the noun).

• 2 an oblique muscle.

– derivatives
obliquely adverb,
obliqueness noun,
obliquity /əˈblɪkwɪti/ noun.

– origin ME: from L. obliquus.